A French TV movie from the early 1980s that looks at the immigrant experience with great tenderness and gentle humour, Dessert For Constance was yet another in a long line of movies I just decided to put into my viewing schedule because it was made available to me. I'm glad I did, particularly when considering how differently the same story might be treated today.
Sidiki Bakaba and Cheik Doukouré are Bokolo and Mamadou, respectively, two immigrant street sweepers in Paris who need to find a decent sum of money quickly in order to help their sick friend, Bono (Elias Sherif), get home to his mother. Inspired by a cookbook that they find in the trash, Bokolo and Mamadou believe that they have the knowledge required to win a TV show based around cooking knowledge.
Adapted from Daniel Boulanger's novel by Maurice Pons, this hour-long (give or take) bit of pleasantness is directed by Sarah Maldoror. If you're unfamiliar with the work of Maldoror then you're in the right place. I am also a newcomer to her filmography, but this has spurred me on to hopefully catch some of her other work one day (she seemed to mostly work on TV movies and shorts). Maldoror works with the material to keep everything far away from the pessimism and misery that could have been running through it, ultimately giving viewers something that has the qualities of a very modern fairytale. Bokolo and Mamadou are quite the double act, but they're not goofballs.
Bakaba and Doukouré are very good in the main roles, both so natural that I was surprised to see that they both stayed in the acting trade for decades. Sherif only has this one credit, and doesn't have to do too much with his screentime, while the other main role (for someone interacting with the leads anyway) is played wonderfully by Jean Bouise.
Making use of a cookbook as a central plot device is a very easy way to remind people of connections that can be made without considering geography, race, class, or any number of other factors. If the way to someone's heart is through their stomach then shared favourite foods can be about so much more than just sitting down together at the same table.
If you can see this, and I know that it will be a difficult one for you to get hold of unless you have the varied and strange options I tend to have at my fingertips, then I recommend you give it your time. It's just over an hour long, it's unexpectedly delightful, and occasionally silly, and it's a fine antidote to the deluge of anti-immigrant rhetoric that has taken over the news and media in the past few years.
8/10
If you have enjoyed this, or any other, review on the blog then do
consider the following ways to show your appreciation. A
subscription/follow costs nothing.
It also costs nothing to like/subscribe to the YouTube channel attached to the podcast I am part of - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCErkxBO0xds5qd_rhjFgDmA
Or you may have a couple of quid to throw at me, in Ko-fi form - https://ko-fi.com/kevinmatthews
Or Amazon is nice at this time of year - https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/Y1ZUCB13HLJD?ref_=wl_share
No comments:
Post a Comment